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Dame Rosalyn Higgins, DBE, QC (b. in London, 1937) is the former
President of the International Court of
Justice. Higgins was the first female judge to be appointed to
the ICJ, and was elected President in 2006. Her term of office
expired on 6 February 2009. She was succeeded as President by Judge
Hisashi Owada,
and Sir Christopher Greenwood was
elected in her place as Judge in the International Court of
Justice.

Contents

Life

Born to a Jewish family in 1937 as Rosalyn
Cohen, she married the politician Terence Higgins in 1961
(Sir Terence from 1993, Lord Higgins since 1997). [1]

Education
and career

She was elected to the Court as of July 12, 1995, re-elected as
of February 6, 2000 and ended her second term on 6 February,
2009.

Higgins studied at Girton College, University of Cambridge
receiving her B.A. in 1959 and LL.B in 1962. She was Harkness Fellow in 1959-61. As well as her
undergraduate degrees she also qualified with a M.A. She continued
her studies at Yale University earning a J.S.D.. Her competence has
been recognised by other academic institutions, having received
over thirteen honorary doctorates, as well as the Yale Law School
Medal of Merit and also the Manley O. Hudson Medal.

Dame Rosalyn is the author of several influential works on
international law, including Problems and Process:
International Law and How We Use It (1994).

In October 2009 she was appointed advisor on international law,
to British government’s enquiry into the Iraq war (Headed by Sir John Chilcot). [2]

Titles from
birth

Miss Rosalyn Cohen (1937-1961)

Mrs Terence Higgins (1961-1986)

Mrs Terence Higgins, QC (1986-1993)

Lady Higgins, QC (1993-1995)

Her Excellency Dame Rosalyn Higgins, DBE, QC
(1995-present)

References

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Footnotes

^[1]"Was it any more
difficult for her to be so critical in the Israel case because she
is Jewish? "I don't think so," she says, stressing that she judged
the case as an international lawyer and not because of her
background. "I also think that the fact you happen to be Jewish
doesn't mean you think that everything the State of Israel does is
right." When the Foreign Office put her name forward for election
to the court, there were fears that some countries in the UN would
not vote for a Jewish woman. She dismisses such concerns. "I don't
think I have ever been perceived as Rosalyn Higgins, the Jewish
international lawyer - and I hope not Rosalyn Higgins, the woman
international lawyer."